SURINAME FAVORS A MEANINGFUL DECLARATION AT THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARAMARIBO 000008

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2013
TAGS: PREL KSUM MARR AMGT NS OAS
SUBJECT: SURINAME FAVORS A MEANINGFUL DECLARATION AT THE
SPECIAL SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

REF: STATE 443

Classified By: Ambassador Marsha E Barnes; reason 1.5 (b) and (d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Surinamese Foreign Minister Levens told the
Ambassador January 5 that Suriname supports the US vision for
a meaningful declaration at the Monterey Special Summit of
the Americas, which Surinamese President Venetiaan will
attend. In addition to firm commitments with firm time
frames, Levens hoped the declaration would take into account
the difficulties smaller nations have implementing all their
commitments due the smaller sizes of their bureaucracies. In
other matters discussed, Levens told the Ambassador that
Suriname opposes St. Kitts/Nevis succession because it would
result in two unthinkably small countries. Levens noted the
need for Surname to improve controls of its borders in order
to better combat trafficking in persons. She did not respond
to the Ambassador's inquiry regarding the status of the
Suriname's response to the US request for an Article 98
agreement. Levens did mention, however, that the Embassy
should soon receive the options Suriname will put forward for
improving the Embassy's security setback. End Summary.

Summit of the Americas
--------------


2. (C) The Ambassador met Surinamese Foreign Minister Maria
Levens January 5 and made reftel points on the need to
produce a meaningful declaration at the Special Summit of the
Americas. Referring to A/S Norieiga's letter to Surinamese
Ambassador Illes (copied was provided to the Ministry
December 30),the Ambassador stressed the need for a focused
declaration that contains specific action items with specific
time frames She asked for Suriname's help to achieve firm
commitments in four key areas: (a)
transparency/anti-corruption; (b) investment in human
capital, especially in education and on HIV/AIDS; (c)
economic development as the key driving force to reduce
poverty, highlighting the roles that FTAA and investment can
play; and (d) explicit mention of the September 11 terrorist
attacks and subsequent efforts to make the Western Hemisphere
safe. The Ambassador noted that this will be the first
meeting of all Western Hemisphere leaders since September 11
and pointed out that the President is looking forward to the
discussions at Monterey, which will demonstrate continued US
engagement in the hemisphere.


3. (C) Levens responded that Suriname supports the US vision
of a concrete declaration at Monterey. She said she had
spoken about the US vision with at least one CARICOM
colleague and that CARICOM was working on the draft of the
Declaration with an eye to making sure it contained clear
commitments. Levens mentioned that the CARICOM was working
on the draft declaration on behalf of the entire community.


4. (C) Levens noted the draft Declaration already had many
commitments and stressed it was also important to focus on
execution of these commitments. To that end, the Declaration
needed to address the special problems faced by smaller
countries, according to Levens. She explained that, while
the smaller countries have the same number of commitments to
implement, they oftentimes have much smaller bureaucracies on
which to rely to get the job done. Smaller countries are
often behind the larger countries in meeting their
commitments, she continued, but it is not a question of
support for those commitments, but rather a question of size,
and "size matters." The Ambassador expressed her sympathy
for the plight of the smaller countries and noted that this
was one reason, among others, that the US has sought to
reduce the number of resolution being considered at the UN.


5. (C) Levens confirmed that Surinamese President Venetiaan
will attend the Monterey summit and expressed hope that the
summit would "bring back proof of cooperation". She
explained that there were too many tensions among countries
in the region and that it was hard for Suriname to work in
this environment. Levens lamented that Suriname is often
seen as a South American country, but participated as a
Caribbean country in most fora. This places Suriname
uncomfortably between CARICOM and MERCOSUR. She noted that


Suriname has little contact with Central American nations,
Mexico or Canada, but agreed with the Ambassador that
Suriname played a special role vis-a-vis Brazil and that
contact with the rest of South American was much better.

St. Kitts/Nevis
--------------


6. (C) Following up on the Minister's comments about the
problems of small countries, the Ambassador asked Levens for
Suriname's position on St. Kitts/Nevis secession, stressing
US concerns for the future of such small countries should
secession occur. Levens replied that Suriname supported the
CARICOM position, which made clear that it would be better
for secession not to occur, which would result in two
unthinkably small countries.

Article 98
--------------


7. (C) The Ambassador reminded Levens that the US still
awaited a response to our request for an Article 98
agreement, highlighting the recent comments by CARICOM's
Carrington on the compatibility of an Article 98 agreements
and support for the ICC. Levens did not respond.

TIP
---


8. (C) The Ambassador expressed her concern that Suriname
needed to continue to make efforts to combat Trafficking in
Persons. Levens responded that Suriname's biggest problem in
this regard is controlling its borders, which are too long
and remote. She told the Ambassador that she has urged
Minister of Justice/Police Gilds to work closely with his
Defense Ministry counterpart to develop effective border
controls that would prevent trafficking in persons. She
noted that she believed that Suriname has an effective method
of controlling entries and exits from its international
airport. (Comment. It is unclear whether Levens' remarks
continue to reflect her previously expressed confusion about
the difference between trafficking in persons and alien
smuggling. End Comment.)

Road Setback
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9. (C) Levens told the Ambassador that the Embassy should
hear from the Ministry of Public Works possibly later this
week concerning options on the Embassy's request for
realignment of the road in front of the Embassy to improve
the Embassy's security setback.
BARNES


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